sports The Hastings softball team is in the driver's seat when it comes to earning a trip back to the state tournament.
Hastings won its first three games in the section softball tournament, setting up a big night Thursday in Austin. Hastings has no losses in the double-elimination tournament, and the Raiders...
Hastings, 55033

Hastings Minnesota 745 Spiral Boulevard 55033

2013-06-13 18:55:17

The Hastings softball team is in the driver's seat when it comes to earning a trip back to the state tournament.

Hastings won its first three games in the section softball tournament, setting up a big night Thursday in Austin. Hastings has no losses in the double-elimination tournament, and the Raiders will take on top-seeded Farmington at 4 p.m. If Hastings wins, they are the section champs.

Advertisement

Advertisement

If they lose, the two teams will play again, winner take all.

Thursday was set up after a big win Tuesday night over those same Tigers from Farmington, 3-2, in eight innings.

Hastings got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning with one run. Paige Ahrens led off with a double and she scored after a hit by Courtney Van De Velde.

In the sixth, the Raiders added another run to go up 2-0. Hailey Lundquist singled and Kaylynn Johnson singled. Megan Friederichs singled to score Lundquist.

In the bottom of the seventh, though, Farmington rallied to score two runs.

In the top of the eighth, Lundquist singled and advanced on an error. She scored on a hit by Friederichs.

Friederichs pitched for the Raiders. She threw all eight innings and had six strikeouts. She worked out of a jam in the fifth by earning a strikeout with the bases loaded.

In the seventh and the eighth, she worked out of jams as well.

With two runners on base in the eighth inning, she got the final out on a strikeout.

Chad Richardson is the publisher and editor at the Hastings Star Gazette. He was the general manager of the Farmington Independent and Rosemount Town Pages from 2000 to 2007. He previously worked at the Star Gazette from 1996 to 2000 as a photographer and reporter. He also worked as a photographer and writer at the Pope County Tribune in Glenwood.